DAILY HOMILIES #Family

Without forgiveness, there cannot be a holy family. If your love is to last, you must forgive one another repeatedly; seventy-seven times seven times. As St. Paul says: “Forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you.” (Colossians 3:13)

Forgiveness is one virtue that enables us to resemble Christ more. No matter what others may have done to us, no matter what they may have taken away from us, no matter what privileges they may have denied us, if we do not forgive, we are not yet Christians. We don’t forgive because the person who has offended us deserves it, we forgive because of our Faith in Christ Jesus who was able to forgive the very persons who executed Him on the Cross of Calvary. It does not make sense (humanly speaking) to forgive, but it takes a Christian to forgive. Remember, as Christians, we do not operate according to human wisdom, but Divine Wisdom.

As much as family is important, serving God leaves no room for compromise. We cannot avoid the divisions that must come or the hatred of others in our determination to seek first God’s kingdom. Like Jeremiah, we shall surely face persecution but everything we suffer is a form of fire that purifies us from impurities just as gold is purified by fire. Our real enemy is not people but sin.

Do not be so glued to social media, spend time with real human beings, mend broken fences, forgive past hurts, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little

God is Trinity. God is Family. To say God is Father, Son, and Spirit at the same time is to say that 1. God understands perfectly what it means to be a Father to us, his children, 2. God understands what it means to be a brother to us and 3. God understands the depth of our spirits.

In Nigeria today, the one factor responsible for large crowds flocking around men of God and churches springing up everywhere is the overwhelming failure of our leadership. The honest truth is that over seventy per cent of those who come into our churches are not looking for Jesus like these crowd in our Gospel passage. Today’s Christians are looking for those basic things that any responsible government should provide.

Growing up as kids, we read a lot of story books which ended with the phrase: “And they lived happily ever after.” Most of us often make the mistake of assuming that after the wedding ceremony, everything suddenly falls into place by itself. This is not true. If your family is to be holy, then get ready to do the hard work; be prayerful, fear God, live a virtuous life, be faithful to your marital vows, love your spouse to the end. Remember, no one can give what he or she does not have.